Chapter 2
Evelyn was roused from her slumber as dawn begun to creep through the heavy curtains of her barren bedroom after a few uncomfortable hours of sleep on a lumpy mattress. The harsh sound of industry begun to echo around the cold street as Small Heath stirred to life at the start of another working week. Evelyn had worked tirelessly into the night to ensure everything was ship shape for the morning. The damp school room had been scrubbed to within an inch of its life and the musty smell had begun to dissipate.
Evelyn stood in her best frock, a navy blue dress with a white lace trim. It wasn't fancy by any means but hopefully it gave off the right impression, one that said 'I'm in charge'. Evelyn wasn't from an affluent background by any stretch of the imagination. She had a small amount savings left to her by her mother that had already dwindled as a result of her current situation. Her meagre wages were her only other source of income. Evelyn was always able to make the best of her lot in life. Most of her clothes were patched and mended or belonged to her mother once upon a time.
As her mind drifted to her late mother Evelyn reached up and fiddled with the charm on her tarnished silver necklace that hung around her neck. It had been passed on to all the women in her family. Evelyn thought the small Cornish Piskie was rather ugly but sentiment had her wearing it every day. She tucked it beneath the neck line of her dress and turned her attention to the last task before she opened the doors for the day. With a practiced hand she picked up the new piece of chalk from the box she bought with her and wrote her name, Miss Trevellick. A shout from outside had her placing the chalk down, dusting her hands off and smoothing down her dress to greet the day.
"Morning," Evelyn greeted as a group of young children pushed and shoved their way into the school yard. They stopped and looked at Evelyn for a long moment, weighing her up, before continuing on. A boy with a grubby face and ripped trousers pushed his way past a girl in a plain grey dress two sizes too big for her. Evelyn assumed a hand me down. "Now there ain't no need t' push," Evelyn called out over the rabble forgetting to reign in her accent.
"You speak funny," the girl in the over-sized dress spoke as she skipped towards the door.
"Nowt wrong with the way I speak. You speak funny to me," Evelyn answered.
"You sayin' we're common?" the boy who did the pushing shouted.
"No," Evelyn held her hands up in defence and made a mental note to watch her accent, "Now settle down." The small class did nothing of the sort. Evelyn cast her gaze across the youngsters. According to the paperwork she eventually found the youngest was five years old. In fact a majority of her class were young. Evelyn suspected that there should be a few older faces in front of her. Small Heath clearly had a disregard for the law. Children must be in school until they are twelve. It wasn't uncommon in some areas for children to leave school earlier than twelve to work to support families. More often than not the schools didn't bother chasing after absent students.
Evelyn's first morning felt like baptism by fire. She very quickly learnt all the names of the eleven students who had bothered to attend. According to her papers she should have had thirty eight students. Word had yet to get out that the school had reopened. After a morning of arithmetic Evelyn dismissed the children for a much needed break for her sake rather than theirs. She was only just holding onto control. Already she'd had three children stood in the corner and another would be cleaning her board rubber at the end of the day. Was too late to head back up north to the familiarity and safety of her old job.
The morning break ended far too quickly for Evelyn's liking. She rung the heavy brass bell to signal the end of break. It went ignored. She rung it again and once again it was ignored. "Reyt, you little heathens inside now!" she shouted once again slipping into her Sheffield accent. A few of the younger children did as instructed leaving behind the somewhat unruly older lads that had made her morning challenging. Evelyn noted the marbles they were playing with, "If you don't go inside this minute I will smash each and every one of those marbles in front you." She was done being nice.
"You can't do that!" the tallest of the boys, Robert, shouted up at her.
Evelyn discovered early on in her teaching career that if she made a threat she had to follow through with it. She lifted her foot and placed it over the nearest marble. Her polished black shoes resting on the smooth glass. "Watch me," she countered. A stand-off followed between her and Robert. Whispers among his friends broke out. They scrambled to their feet and scampered off inside. Robert's gaze flicked past Evelyn and back to the marble under her foot then back to what had caught his gaze. Evelyn didn't break eye contact with the little terror doubting that there was anything interesting behind her in the first place. With a huff and a grumble he got to his feet and trudged into the classroom. Evelyn smiled to herself triumphantly as her battered confidence was restored. She'd won. Evelyn turned to join the children inside but stopped before she could take a step further.
A young man and small boy stood in front of her, "Finn Shelby," the man spoke in a thick brummy accent. He pushed the child forward with a gentle shove. Evelyn was caught completely off guard. She regarded the man for a moment. Taking in every inch of him from his peaked cap low over his eyes, the long coat and suit. How had she not heard him enter through the squeaky gate?
"I didn't hear you come in," Evelyn spoke at a loss as to what to say.
"If you lift the gate as you lift it then it doesn't squeak," the boy confessed. Evelyn turned her attention to him.
"And who are you?" she asked him as she knelt down.
The boy laughed, "He's not Finn. I am. You should know who that is."
"Finn," the man warned.
Evelyn ignored the warning tone, "So who is that?" she asked Finn.
"Tommy Shelby," the boy answered with pride. Evelyn got the impression that Tommy Shelby was something of a legend to the boy.
"Why don't you go on inside, we're going to do some writing," Evelyn returned to her feet and sent the boy on his way. As he ran through the school doors she turned back to the man, "He's late."
"He left the house on time this morning," Tommy answered her, "Watch out for his truanting." Tommy straightened his cap and left through the gate. Evelyn watched as he pulled out a cigarette, placed it between his lips and lit it with the strike of a matchbook.
"You shouldn't smoke in the school," she called after him. He took a long drag but didn't look back as he left the gate open. Annoyed Evelyn closed the gate with more force than necessary and returned to the school to see what chaos had been unleashed after leaving them unsupervised. The trays of sand for their writing practice would probably be upturned all over the place and as for the sticks they used to practice writing with she wouldn't be surprised if the little darlings hadn't set fire to them.
Evelyn remembered the detention list she found as she closed the school doors, evidently this was the Finn. The one who liked truant. "We'll see about that," Evelyn mumbled to herself as she held her head high and took control of the animals in her classroom.
Thank you to those who reviewed. Glad you liked it. First few chapters will be a bit of an introduction. I've got a busy few days ahead so not likely to be an update until the weekend.
